A liquid crystal display apparatus called a thin type, such as a liquid crystal television, comprises a display panel that has a substantially rectangular parallel-piped shape and a display surface for displaying an image at the front side, and a light source module that is placed at the rear side of the display panel and emits light to the display panel.
As a light source module, the direct light type, in which a diffusion plate and a support body for supporting the diffusion plate are placed at the rear side of the display panel and cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) or light emitting diodes (LEDs) are placed at the rear side of the diffusion plate, and the edge light type, in which a light guide plate and a support body for supporting the light guide plate are placed at the rear side of the display panel and light emitting diodes are placed at a region facing a side surface of the light guide plate, are generally employed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-300170, for example).
Because in the edge light type light source module multiple light emitting diodes are arranged side by side to face the side surface of the light guide plate so as to emit, from one surface of the light guide plate, the light which has entered the light guide plate at the side surface thereof while diffusing the light therein, the edge light type light source module can decrease the thickness of the display apparatus, compared to the direct light type in which multiple light sources are placed side by side at the rear side of the diffusion plate.
Thus, employing the edge light type is advantageous to decrease the thickness of display apparatuses.